IC 2233, also known as UGC 4278, is a

spiral galaxy Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

. IC 2233 is located between 26 and 40 million light-years away from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. A comparatively quiet galaxy with a low rate of star formation (less than one solar mass every twenty years), it was long thought to be possibly interacting with the Bear's Paw galaxy. However, this is now considered highly unlikely as

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

observations with the

Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~ west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twen ...

showed the two galaxies lie at different distances. This galaxy was discovered by British astronomer

Isaac Roberts Isaac Roberts FRS (27 January 1829 – 17 July 1904) was a Welsh people, Welsh engineer and businessman best known for his work as an amateur astronomer, pioneering the field of astrophotography of nebulae. He was a member of the Liverpool As ...

in 1894.

Gallery

File:Portrait_of_a_Needle_Galaxy.jpg, The remarkably thin galaxy IC 2233 is featured in this image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab.

References

2233 IC 2233 004278 {{spiral-galaxy-stub